(see recaps of day 1, day 2, day 3)

The final day of SXSW I found myself on the roof of Whole Foods once again.

I had to catch a band bright and early at 10:30AM. I first heard about them via a publicity email. I was going to review the single but I figured I’d just talk about the band here instead. This band is Night Argent.

Night Argent is based in California and brought to the stage a hefty production with stadium ready anthems, a lighting rig, and a thrilling percussion breakdown that brought their set to a conclusion. It was quite the way to start the day. “Nothing More Beautiful,” the band’s single, remains the band’s most notable song thus far. Their sound can be described as a combination of The Neighbourhood and Imagine Dragons.

This band was followed up with a schedule simply jammed full of talent. Gringo Star got the ball rolling with their brand of psych pop. Prior to this, my primary exposure to psychedelic pop has been watching Columbus Ohio’s DOMES. My friend Vincent Valentino of Fingers expressed his jealously when I saw he was a fan. On An On, a band that I want really badly to love followed up with a set of calming yet assertive electronic rock. I enjoyed the set, but I haven’t heard anything from the band that I am absolutely in love with yet. Their new single, “Digging,” shows promise in this area, though.

Civil Twilight has been a perennial favorite of yours truly so the fact that their set overlapped with Knox Hamilton and Cardboard Kids in the posted schedule posed somewhat of a conflict for me. A schedule delay worked out in my favor though and I watched about 20 minutes of Civil Twilight. They opened with old favorite “Soldier” off their debut album and followed up with lots of new tunes from their upcoming album, titled “Story of an Immigrant.” These songs showed a lot of promise. While I wouldn’t call them cheerful, what I heard didn’t carry the same sense of foreboding that a lot of “Holy Weather” carried. Satisfied with what I had seen from Civil Twilight, I headed downstairs to the side stage just in time to catch the end of Knox Hamilton’s set, including “Work It Out,” which I had missed the previous night. At this point it was raining pretty steadily and the audience was huddled under a canopy which was some distance from the actual stage.

When Cardboard Kids played, however, people stepped forth into the grey dampness and got their headbang and groove on. Even a faulty mic stand didn’t stop Jake Germany from powering through his set – “this mic just ain’t having it!” he joked at one point. Cuts from the band’s album “Echo Boomer” including the title track got many people really into it. If the band can accomplish this in the rain in the middle of the day, I’m stoked to see what they can do in a big room in the evening. Hyped by that set, I headed upstairs to catch my last set of the Quantum Collective showcase – Novel Nature. This band was chosen for this event by way of WorldArts, a new social platform meant for artists to apply for unique events and network. Novel Nature has a ways to go before they hit my “love them” list, but they are already capable of putting on a solid live show, and a second listen to them after I returned to Ohio from SXSW piqued my interest further.

Following a four hour nap at my hotel, I headed out for one final marathon of music. To my dismay, the showcase at Empire Garage which featured Ms Mr, Cathedrals, Years and Years, and more had a line that rendered it darn near impossible to get in. So I wandered about with no backup plan. Eventually I ended up at the Run For Cover Records showcase at Holy Mountain. Young Statues was playing indoors. This is a band that I’ve heard about over and over in passing yet never really gave much of a chance. They appealed to my indie/progressive/emo sensibilities with a style that was loud yet restrained. After headbanging I checked out what was happening out back. The Well, a sludge metal band that was recently on tour with All Them Witches (actually, they played my hometown’s Spacebar not too long ago) was jamming out and they made the show inside seem petty by comparison – at least if you compare volume and bass.

I hit up Buffalo Billiards’ soon after to catch a set from Royal Teeth. Let me pause for a moment and comment on the venue – this is what I wish Columbus had. A huge room with a bar island in the middle. Exposed wood rafters. Quirky decor. A huge stage with a full lighting rig. Anyway… Royal Teeth killed it too. By this point I was approaching the point of live music burnout so I mostly sat and observed the high energy indie pop set from afar. The set wasn’t exactly frenetic, yet the band seemed to fly about the stage – rather gracefully. The sunny pop songs were massive and I’m surprised the band isn’t more popular. The dual lead singers took time after to greet fans and converse with strangers, smiling all the while. Simply put, this band is also a class act.

Tired yet discontent to give in too early, I headed back in the direction of Bar 96 for the Spartan Records showcase. You could tell the fest was starting to wind down – the doormen were no long scanning wristbands and badges when I got there in spite of it being an official SXSW event still. In the back The Foxery was lamenting their way through a very loud, passionate post hardcore/emo set. The beast of a lead vocalist seemed oblivious to his surroundings as he poured his heart out into the mic. Following the set I saw a few people that seemed to have been there just for drinking walk up and shake his hand, congratulating them on an awesome set. This set would be blown out of the water by Richmond, VA’s Shy, Low, however. Two members of this band actually live in the same house as Comrades, whom have played in a few Tuned Up events. So I knew it was going to be good. But I didn’t know it was going to be that good! What the band lacked in emotion they made up for in pure beauty – and amplitude. But seriously, it’s a miracle I didn’t wake up with a “bangover” the next morning. They utilized an array of incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs during their set, some of which formed an array atop the cabs behind them. This was the perfect band to shake me out of my burnout and the perfect band to end my first ever SXSW on. I can’t wait to return next year!